Jake Quickenden has shared how taking part in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here made him feel 'invisible' as he shared some things viewers may not known about being a part of the hit series.
His comments come as a spin-off version of the hit ITV reality, still hosted by duo Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, is set to air on Monday night (April 24). I'm A Celebrity... South Africa sees the return of some of the most memorable stars to have tackled the hit reality TV show in the past two decades.
And heading for a new setting on the southernmost tip of the African continent is boxing champion Amir Khan; Diversity dancer and DJ Jordan Banjo; TV presenter Carol Vorderman; Olympic athlete Fatima Whitbread; soap star Helen Flanagan; former royal butler Paul Burrell; ex-England cricketer Phil Tufnell; supermodel Janice Dickinson and music legend Shaun Ryder.
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But unlike the original format, the first I’m A Celebrity Legend will not feature a public vote. Instead, the celebrities will be competing against one another to be crowned the legend.
Lifting the lid on his experience in an exclusive interview with Betway Casino, Jake has dished some camp secrets, following his 'life-changing' time on the show’s fourteenth series. Jake entered the Australian camp shortly after appearing on The X Factor, and made it to the final alongside eventual winner Carl Fogarty and presenter Mel Sykes.
"I absolutely loved it. For me, I was a huge fan of the show growing up, I used to watch it with my dad all the time," Jake, who lost a stone in weight while appearing on the show, said of the experience. And then when I got booted out The X Factor, I was like, what am I going to do now? I’m A Celebrity came knocking on the door, so it was a chance to do one of my favourite shows ever. I had so many childhood memories of watching it with my old man.
"I’m not really bothered about fame, but it gave me another shot to do well. I was just delighted to get asked to do it and it really didn't disappoint. When I got there, I was very nervous. Obviously, I was on X Factor, but it was my first experience being massively in the public eye. I then went into the jungle with people that I recognised from TV, having to make friends with them, when really I was a little bit starstruck. It was a weird experience, but I wouldn't change a single thing that happened, I absolutely loved it."
And sharing a secret from the show, Jake, 34, revealed: "The cameramen are not allowed to talk to you, so when you go to a trial, you’ve obviously got a few following you. I remember one of them had Tic Tacs and I was like, can I please have a Tic Tac? He obviously wasn't allowed to talk to me and wasn't allowed to give me one.
"I always used to ask them for the football scores, but they’d never talk to you. You do see people throughout the day, but it’s like you’re invisible. It’s weird but it’s so funny trying to wind them up and getting them to talk."
When asked if there was, for him, anyone missing form the I'm A Celeb South Africa line-up, Jake added: "I think they've got a really good mixture of people from it. I would have loved to see Jimmy [Bullard] back in there if I'm honest. Jimmy went out first in our year and he was brilliant.
"I quite liked Dougie Poytner when he was in it. Stacey Solomon would have been great to have back in there. She was really entertaining in her year. Kerry Katona when she won, she was one of the first to win it. She was a real good laugh, so there's so many people that you can put in there. I do think they could have put anyone in, but think the line-up that they've done is really good."
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